Ambiguous headlines. Learn to identify intended mea...

Ambiguous headlines. Learn to identify intended meanings and alternative interpretations. Objective?) Newspaper headlines are a notorious place where the rules of grammar get bent, and we readers have to make the best of it. The document discusses ambiguous newspaper headlines that can be interpreted in more than one way, providing 15 examples of headlines with their intended and alternative meanings. And for more laughs, check out these 30 Funniest Photos of Celebrities as Teens. Such artlessly ambiguous headlines have, since 2009, been called crash blossoms, at the suggestion of an editor called Dan Bloom, suitably enough. The above crash blossom would have been easier to parse with a hyphen between whale and watching and perhaps by substituting capsizes for sinks. Whether or not the creator of the headline was aiming to lie can only be figured out by reading through the provided material, which directly fulfills the headline’s purpose—to grab your attention and make you click. It provides pairs of sentences or headlines where the first version is ambiguous and could be misunderstood, while the second version clarifies the intended meaning by adding additional context or restructuring the phrasing to avoid misinterpretation. The words need to be chosen carefully. Some editors of online news tend to use catchy headlines which trick readers into clicking. Use brackets on two copies of each headline to demonstrate the structural cause of the ambiguity. "Amphibious pitcher makes debut" We knew Aqua Man had bigger ambitions than just being the guy in Super Friends who can call dolphins. After each headline there is a link to the relevant fallacy in the files. Various related activities are provided for journalism, English language arts and English language learning. Finally, determining the comparative influence of structural and lexical ambiguity on the comprehension of headlines is focused on. In most cases the problem is an ambiguous word; in the second group, however, the reference is ambiguous because of two possible predicate-argument structures. "Cows lose their jobs as milk prices drop" It's always heartbreaking when a cow can't bring in a steady income—but we're guessing that's not quit e what the editors behind this unintentionally funny newspaper headline from The Baltimore Sun had in mind. Improve language skills. This list of the weirdest, funniest, strangest news headlines covers it all. Write down one ambiguous headline with explanation of the ambiguous word(s). based on syntactic ambiguity is lower than that of lexically ambiguous headlines but much higher than that found by previous research regarding jokes; 2) an analysis in terms of the disjunctor/connector1 model (Attardo, 1994: 99, 104-105) reveals the presence in the corpus of two new processing configurations never considered in the literature Previous work names these headlines ``clickbaits'' and mainly focus on the features extracted from the headlines, which limits the performance since the consistency between headlines and news bodies is underappreciated. This makes newspaper readers to struggle in trying to give possible interpretations to the headlines which undeniably have more than one conceivable meaning. and Japan: More Sanctions Coming, Japan Warned This headline is difficult to interpret. Students are tasked with determining the intended meaning of A news headline is an integral part of the journalistic article. The study is based on a corpus of 135 verbally ambiguous headlines found on web sites presenting humor-ous bits of information. The document contains examples of ambiguous sentences and headlines that could be interpreted in multiple ways. Some headlines describe situations that are bizarre when taken literally, such as "Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors" or "Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over". Unfortunately, some newspaper headlines can make us do a spit-take and drench the entire page in delicious tea (splash of milk, no sugar). Using data from Vanguard and Daily Trust newspapers, the study discovered that ambiguities are prevalent in the newspaper headlines as a result of various manipulations on sentences and lexical choice. . It is also found that the reanalysis of a garden-path sentence gets more and more difficult with the length of the ambiguous phrase. PDF | The present study is an endeavor to identify syntactic ambiguity, intentionally or unintentionally, employed by journalists in constructing news | Find, read and cite all the research you Headlines can be ambiguous or confusing, and that is something every writer should be mindful of. From newspapers, to TV Abstract This project analyses semantic ambiguous headlines stating their communicative effectiveness with regards to print media. Given different contexts, headlines might appear short or long, simple or complex, ambiguous or ambiguity-free. (Except, perhaps, that we need tobe clear in the way we communicate. An ambiguous headline is a headline whose meaning is un-clear relative to that of the content of the story [Marquez, 1980]. " We're pretty sure you're confusing it with "deranged hospital serial killer. "Forecasters call for weather on Monday" The folks at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette make no promises about Tuesday. May 23, 2024 · Unfortunately, some newspaper copy editors working on strict deadlines or other pressure situations can create an ambiguous headline, a confusing or misleading headline with often humorous connotations. drunk gets nine months in violin case Iraqi head seeks The study is based on a corpus of 135 verbally ambiguous headlines found on web sites presenting humor-ous bits of information. In that case, the former use is preferred. ” The article concerned the accomplishments of violinist Diana Yukawa, whose father was a victim of 1985’s Ambiguity and headlines Newspaper headlines often compress sequences of actions into very compact structures. We investigated how subtle differences in epistemic language in headlines (e. But sometimes, outrageous statements and inappropriate jokes slip past the editors, leaving readers confused. This study investigates the linguistic phenomenon of syntactic ambiguity in English-language news headlines, focusing on how structural features affect reader interpretation. We’ll admit, we Ambiguous Headlines the following headlines are classic cases of ambiguity. "Miracle cure kills fifth patient" You may want to look up the definition of the word "cure. You know the type of headlines that I mean: unintentionally amusing, very silly, and quite obvious how stupid they are if the overworked editors would look at them with a pair of fresh eyes. Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus? Latin Course To Be Canceled No Interest Among Students, Et Al. Some words or phrases can be read more than one way, and in a joke, this is often So where do we end up when it comes to headlines, as they seem to delve into both truth and falsehood. The examples demonstrate how In addition, fifty semantically ambiguous headlines (polysemes) were selected and a test was given on the prepared headlines. Almost always, practical ethics requires reliable facts. AMBIGUOUS HEADLINES $1. This one depends on word-sense ambiguity rather than on the structural and part-of-speech issues in the ambiguous headlines we've called crash blossoms. The paper investigated data collected from three You've encountered what's called a "crash blossom": a headline that is ambiguous because of its wording or punctuation (or absence thereof). "After 9 months, women’s body to get new head", Times of India 8/26/2020: Nine months after being headless and non-functional, the Goa State Commission for Women is set to get a new chairperson. It explains that headlines need to communicate a lot of information in a small space using carefully chosen words that can sometimes be misinterpreted. ABSTRACT This project analyses semantic ambiguous headlines stating their communicative effectiveness with regards to print media. An One of the major reasons why newspaper readers cannot effectively interpret the actual messages of writers by glancing at the headlines is because the headlines are almost often ambiguous. In this paper, we clearly redefine the problem and identify ambiguous and misleading headlines separately. Most news media exists online these days, which is a shame. Specifically, a considerable portion of news headlines is ambiguous. Such headlines are unclear relative to the content of the story, and largely degrade the reading experience of the audience. [13] You've encountered what's called a "crash blossom": a headline that is ambiguous because of its wording or punctuation (or absence thereof). Materials | Computers with Internet access (optional), handouts. Explore ambiguous newspaper headlines with this worksheet. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of selected headlines from Dawn, a prominent Pakistani newspaper, the research identifies various types of structural ambiguities including prepositional phrase attachment, reduced Headlines are particularly prone to ambiguity because of their brevity. Perhaps the most famous headline error of all time occurred when the Chicago Tribune confidently declared Thomas Dewey the winner of the 1948 presidential election. , “believe” vs. S. ” “They can be avoided only by great care in Work on handout: Read and understand the 15 headlines and try to explain their meanings. What is the story?) What words in the headline helped you most with your prediction? What words in the headline presented you with the most difficulty? (Which words were ambiguous or counter-intuitive?) Based on the headline do you expect this article to be slanted in one way or another? (Politically? Sensationalist vs. Apr 23, 2025 · Here is a list of 15 real newspaper headlines that contained mistakes but somehow became legendary in their own right. by this I mean that they lend themselves to multiple interp Reanalysis of a garden-path sentence When ambiguous nouns appear, they can function as both the object of the first item or the subject of the second item. This page collects together humorous headlines based on such logical fallacies. 15 min Explanation of ambiguous headlines: Take turns to explain every other headline. Sometimes the meaning becomes ambiguous as a result. The Twitter page “ Mental Headlines ” is clearly aware of that and has set out on a mission to document the most absurdly funny and downright odd headlines spotted in media that take entertainment onto a whole new meta level. Using these ambiguity examples learn how to make your writing irresistible and strategically engage your readers. Some words or phrases can be read more than one way, and in a joke, this is often News24 was directed by the Press Ombudsman to apologise to Nombasa Mawela for certain errors in an article published as part of The Eskom Files in May 2021. In this paper, we clearly redefine the problem and identify ambiguous and mislead-ing headlines separately. Trauma reactivation from news headlines can cause insomnia and distress. 1 Examples of Ambiguity Listed below are some headlines that exhibit at least one of three kinds of ambiguity – lexical (part-of-speech), syntactic (structural), and semantic. The outcomes of the study could be useful for all EFL learners and trainers. In this lesson, students review and revise ambiguous headlines to make them clearer, consider what makes headlines effective and generate tips and guidelines. Finally we found out that headlines written by native journalists are more ambiguous both structurally and lexically. In some of these examples – all from actual newspaper headlines – the unintended meaning is so strong that, on first reading, it overshadows the intended one. g. lexically ambiguous headlines but much higher than that found by previ- ous research regarding jokes; 2) an analysis in terms of the disjunctor connector based on syntactic ambiguity is lower than that of lexically ambiguous headlines but much higher than that found by previous research regarding jokes; 2) an analysis in terms of the disjunctor/connector1 model (Attardo, 1994: 99, 104-105) reveals the presence in the corpus of two new processing configurations never considered in the literature Previous work names these headlines “clickbaits” and mainly focus on the features extracted from the headlines, which limits the performance since the consistency between headlines and news bodies is underappreciated. Choosing sentence case over title case can avoid ambiguity, but only in a few select cases; it doesn’t generally solve the problem. Puns in headlines activities For all but the highest level students or ones who come across such things everyday, puns in headlines are best simply to avoid or ignore. Read through the following headlines taken from actual newspapers and determine the cause of the semantic ambiguity. A headline must communicate a lot of information in a small space. Enjoy the weather on Monday while you have it because the rest of the week could contain no atmosphere whatsoever. Goals Study examples of real ambiguity in language from newspapers. " These real newspaper headlines – gathered from local, national, and international newspapers across the globe – are ambiguous; you can see what the journalist meant to say, but in each case there is a more amusing interpretation of the headline. “Ambiguous words often lead to ludicrous and puzzling headline statements,” Grant Milnor Hyde wrote in his 1915 manual, “Newspaper Editing. Explanation of ambiguous headlines: Take turns to explain every other headline. NEWSPAPER HEADLINES FOR SYNTAX Read each of the following sentences carefully and decide the two ways in which the phrase structure may be interpreted in order to provide the two ambiguous interpretations. The following headline is about retaliation for the trade barriers between the U. For example: Soviet virgin lands short of goal again Headlines that can be read more than one way, or that contain a confusing or erroneous element, have been a source of amusement for journalists and newshounds–and of consternation for the perpetrators–since the dawn of written mass communication, but anyone who writes or edits should be aware of the dangers of careless headline writing. When it comes to writing news headlines, puns are common and hyperbole is everywhere. 25 Wednesday September 30th , 2014 Vol XCIII, No. Is Japan doing the warning, or is Japan being warned? In 2009, Japan Today published the headline “Violinist linked to JAL crash blossoms. Learn how physicians can recognize and support survivors during high-profile abuse cases. The name derives from a headline in Japan Today: ‘Violinist Linked to JAL Crash Blossoms’. “know“) affect readers’ inferences about whether claims are perceived as matters of Amusing Headlines (Ambiguity) This document contains a collection of amusing newspaper headlines that result from ambiguous phrasing and unintended double meanings. There’s something beautiful about the experience of reading a print newspaper; the fresh ink on your fingers, the smell of newsprint, and of course, the occasional bizarre and (unintentionally) funny newspaper headlines. Ambiguous headlines make use of curiosity gap by concealing key information of a news event. This leads to the possibility of multiple meanings and Okay, so there’s not much about “ethics” in this post. News headline structure, like any other construction where choices are made, is variable, especially because it intends to say so much in few words. Headlines are an influential source of information, especially because people often do not read beyond them. Amusing Headlines (Ambiguity) This document contains a collection of amusing newspaper headlines that result from ambiguous phrasing and unintended double meanings. 311 Ambiguous Headlines & Interpretation What does it mean for a headline to be ambiguous? "Kids Make Nutritious Snacks" For something to be ambiguous, it could have two or more specific meanings. Some journalists, intentionally or unintentionally, employ ambiguity when constructing news headlines. Previous work names these headlines "clickbaits" and mainly focus on the features extracted from the headlines, which limits the performance since the consistency between headlines and news bodies is underappreciated. These headlines are either ambiguous or misleading, degrading the reading experience of the audience. The main purpose of this page is to have a few laughs, but you can also learn something about fallacies while doing so. In this paper, we focus on dealing with the information gap caused by the ambiguous news headlines. The article below it concerned the success of Diana Yukawa, whose father had died in a Japan Airlines crash. Match the similar headlines Students match headlines for the same story to the different articles on it by the level of formality, political leaning of the newspaper, etc. For example, a sports story might say New York Jets Run Out of Fuel. Preview text Ambiguous newspaper headlines Headlines frequently try to be clever. Show comprehension by paraphrasing each possible meaning for each example. lhnt, vfmpo, 1nxnbx, m7tqj, 4ml8, npim, izivh, hb2oy, leyuh, ksed,